The Next Adventure

Now that I'm finally finished my undergrad, I thought I might go back to school for an extended period of time.

After much deliberation (I deliberated until they offered me a scholarship, shallow, I know), I've chosen Osgoode, which is at York in Toronto.

I know Toronto is not exactly a far away destination, but since this blog is mostly for my friends and family and they won't have any idea what I'm up to, it might as well be.

After much searching, I was able to find this picture of Osgoode on the Law is Cool blog. They were perhaps not exactly enthusiastic about the appearance of this building. When you compare it to where the school used to be in downtown Toronto (Osgoode Hall), you can see why people complain.


Now apparently, there is a project set for completion in 2010 to add an addition, including an atrium, onto the building to make it more "study friendly." This next picture is of the model, taken from the Osgoode site. Now what this means is that I have to look forward to a year, possibly more, of construction noise. At work, in downtown Guelph, I have come to discover that construction noise is quite possibly the most disruptive noise ever. Lawn maintenance day and first year undergrads trying to impress each other vye for second. So, I may need to invest in some really good earplugs for my first year there.

Now, I haven't actually seen York campus ever, so I will reserve judgment. Actually, I'm kind of excited. I've got a tour set up, so I'll post some of my pictures in a few days.

so... Cuba

My trip to Cuba has come and gone. Guess it took me a while to get around to posting about it. In fairness (as all my blogs start with excuses), I did finish university with an Honours BA in the mean time (finally).

Cuba was pretty much as I had expected. Our resort looked pretty much like those pictures below. It wasn’t terribly hot there, despite it being June, nor was it terribly stormy despite it being hurricane season. It did rain every day at four and there were invisible bitey bugs in the evenings, the true sting of which was not apparent until I was back in the Canadian air.

Aside from some good reading an general lazing about, I did get in some snorkeling - I’m a mouth-breathing pro, it turns out. We also got in some paddle-boating, catamaraning, drinking, dancing and sleeping.

Some observations:
1. Cubans like Canadians, except les Quebecois for some reason.
2. They’re not so keen on the British and really don’t like Americans (obviously).
3. They like Germans, but not German tipping.
4. As with China, they think white skin is attractive.
5. Everyone at the resort was monstrously fat.
6. One woman looked like a worn leather bag, reaffirming my love of sunscreen.
7. They seem to think that foreigners do not possess the ability to understand what living in Cuba is like. Granted, I have a lot to learn about Cuba, but I’m not that naive. I do understand the basic concept that Cubans resorts are for foreigners only and that the rest of Cuba looks nothing like them.
8. Apparently, Cuban health care is not actually fully free. They’re still better off than the American indigent [fat baby defenders: that’s indigent, not indigenous].
9. I can’t make change in currencies which have $3 bills.

I’m going to post later about something slightly more politically significant, but I’m hungry right now.

As a side note to some of my readers, I’m actually female, as evidenced by my profile picture up there on the right. Also, it’s no coincidence that my blog is called “Confusing Jessica,” if you catch my drift.